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Jae-Jean Suh, Senior Research Fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, writes, “it is highly unlikely that North Korea will refuse to integrate into the capitalist world system that other socialist nations had selected and continue to persist with its acquisition of nuclear weapons, thereby further sustaining its Cold War isolation, but would rather make a strategic choice of abolishing its nuclear weapons.”

Katharine H.S. Moon, Associate Professor of political science at Wellesley College and Associate Fellow at the Asia Society in New York City, writes that “The Japanese system of sexual slavery was first and foremost an atrocity perpetrated on women, not nations. Often, these were women of lower classes or women underprotected in some way by their own people. And whether they were Korean or Dutch or South Pacific Islander, their bodies, minds and souls hurt equally.”

Tong Kim, Visiting Scholar at SAIS, Johns Hopkins University, writes that “The North Koreans should heed the rekindled criticisms among the opponents of the Bush administrations new approach to the DPRK since their refusal to participate in the talks last week. They should remind themselves that they won a rare opportunity to engage the United States after waiting 6 long years. They should also remember that the United States still has other options to resort to, if it is convinced, as events may prove right or wrong, that there is no way to reach a fair negotiated settlement.”

The Atlantic Council Working Group on North Korea, chaired by Ambassador James Goodby and General Jack N. Merritt released this report which notes, “Enlarging the diplomatic agenda through parallel negotiations, alongside the nuclear talks, will strengthen the U.S. hand by enabling diplomats to assert additional pressures on North Korea as well as provide Pyongyang, and other negotiating partners, new incentives The history of negotiating with North Korea demonstrates that improvements in political conditions almost always precede and foster agreements on security-related issues.”

Steven C. Kim, Assistant Professor at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, writes, “given the fact that the conflicting approaches of China-Russia-ROK and US-Japan are rooted in their differing policy goals toward North Korea which, in turn, reflect their sharply divergent domestic and foreign policy interests, it will not be easy for them to reconcile their conflicting approaches until the five countries can agree on a common approach, one cannot expect that there will be substantive progress toward resolving the North Korean nuclear problem.”

The Atlantic Council Working Group on North Korea, a NGO that promotes constructive U.S. leadership and engagement in international affairs, wrote, “In the working group’s view, parallel negotiations to achieve a series of agreements on political, security and economic issues related to the nuclear deal will provide the U.S. with significantly greater diplomatic leverage for achieving its strategic policy goals of denuclearizing North Korea and establishing long-term peace and stability in Northeast Asia. Realizing a comprehensive settlement would also demonstrate the strategic value of making diplomatic common cause with an emerging China.”